Values in Psychometrics

2021 ◽  
pp. 174569162110141
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Wijsen ◽  
Denny Borsboom ◽  
Anna Alexandrova
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Test Items ◽  
A Value ◽  
Specific Sense ◽  
New Social Order

When it originated in the late 19th century, psychometrics was a field with both a scientific and a social mission: Psychometrics provided new methods for research into individual differences and at the same time considered these methods a means of creating a new social order. In contrast, contemporary psychometrics—because of its highly technical nature and its limited involvement in substantive psychological research—has created the impression of being a value-free discipline. In this article, we develop a contrasting characterization of contemporary psychometrics as a value-laden discipline. We expose four such values: that individual differences are quantitative (rather than qualitative), that measurement should be objective in a specific sense, that test items should be fair, and that the utility of a model is more important than its truth. Our goal is not to criticize psychometrics for supporting these values but rather to bring them into the open and to show that they are not inevitable and are in need of systematic evaluation.

The Reliability of Retrieval-Induced Forgetting

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Potts ◽  
Robin Law ◽  
John F. Golding ◽  
David Groome
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Recognition Test ◽  
Laboratory Tests ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clinical Factors ◽  
Test Items ◽  
T1 And T2 ◽  
Test Materials ◽  
Induced Forgetting

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that the retrieval of an item from memory impairs the retrieval of related items. The extent to which this impairment is found in laboratory tests varies between individuals, and recent studies have reported an association between individual differences in the strength of the RIF effect and other cognitive and clinical factors. The present study investigated the reliability of these individual differences in the RIF effect. A RIF task was administered to the same individuals on two occasions (sessions T1 and T2), one week apart. For Experiments 1 and 2 the final retrieval test at each session made use of a category-cue procedure, whereas Experiment 3 employed category-plus-letter cues, and Experiment 4 used a recognition test. In Experiment 2 the same test items that were studied, practiced, and tested at T1 were also studied, practiced, and tested at T2, but for the remaining three experiments two different item sets were used at T1 and T2. A significant RIF effect was found in all four experiments. A significant correlation was found between RIF scores at T1 and T2 in Experiment 2, but for the other three experiments the correlations between RIF scores at T1 and T2 failed to reach significance. This study therefore failed to find clear evidence for reliable individual differences in RIF performance, except where the same test materials were used for both test sessions. These findings have important implications for studies involving individual differences in RIF performance.

Blackism and Pan-Africanism in Post-Colonial African Literature: A Reading of Femi Osofisan’s Plays

Imbizo ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement Olujide Ajidahun
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Black People ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Pan Africanism ◽  
New Social Order

This article is a thematic study of Femi Osofisan’s plays that explicitly capture the essence of blackism, nationalism and pan-Africanism as a depiction of the playwright’s ideology and his total commitment to the evolution of a new social order for black people. The article critically discusses the concepts of blackism and pan-Africanism as impelling revolutionary tools that seek to re-establish and reaffirm the primacy, identity, and personality of black people in Africa and in the diaspora. It also discusses blackism as an African renaissance ideology that campaigns for the total emancipation of black people and a convulsive rejection of all forms of colonialism, neo-colonialism, Eurocentrism, nepotism and ethnic chauvinism, while advocating an acceptance of Afrocentrism, unity and oneness of blacks as indispensable tools needed for the dethronement of all forms of racism, discrimination, oppression and dehumanisation of black people. The article hinges the underdevelopment of the black continent on the deliberate attempt of the imperialists and their black cronies who rule with iron hands to keep blacks in perpetual slavery. It countenances Femi Osofisan’s call for unity and solidarity among all blacks as central to the upliftment of Africans. The article recognises Femi Osofisan as a strong, committed and formidable African playwright who utilises theatre as a veritable and radical platform to fight and advocate for the liberation of black people by arousing their revolutionary consciousness and by calling on them to hold their destinies in their hands if they are to be emancipated from the shackles of oppression.

The Bullshitting Frequency Scale: Development and psychometric properties

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Littrell ◽  
Evan F. Risko ◽  
Jonathan Albert Fugelsang
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Misleading Information ◽  
Social Decision ◽  
Frequency Scale ◽  
Dispositional Factors ◽  
Reliable Scale

Recent psychological research has identified important individual differences associated with receptivity to bullshit, which has greatly enhanced our understanding of the processes behind susceptibility to pseudo-profound or otherwise misleading information. However, the bulk of this research attention has focused on cognitive and dispositional factors related to bullshit (the product), while largely overlooking the influences behind bullshitting (the act). Here, we present results from four studies (focusing on the construction and validation of a new, reliable scale measuring the frequency with which individuals engage in two types of bullshitting (persuasive and evasive) in everyday situations. Overall, bullshitting frequency was negatively associated with sincerity, honesty, cognitive ability, open-minded cognition, and self-regard. Additionally, the Bullshitting Frequency Scale was found to reliably measure constructs that are: 1) distinct from lying, and; 2) significantly related to performance on overclaiming and social decision tasks. These results represent an important step forward by demonstrating the utility of the Bullshitting Frequency Scale as well as highlighting certain individual differences that may play important roles in the extent to which individuals engage in everyday bullshitting.

Scriptural Battlefields: The Old Testament, Legal Culture, and the Polemics of the Spanish New World Empire, 1492–1821

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra ◽  
Adrian Masters
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Social Order ◽  
New World ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Spanish Empire ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Group Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Social Order

Scholars have barely begun to explore the role of the Old Testament in the history of the Spanish New World. And yet this text was central for the Empire’s legal thought, playing a role in its legislation, adjudication, and understandings of group status. Institutions like the Council of the Indies, the Inquisition, and the monarchy itself invited countless parallels to ancient Hebrew justice. Scripture influenced how subjects understood and valued imperial space as well as theories about Paradise or King Solomon’s mines of Ophir. Scripture shaped debates about the nature of the New World past, the legitimacy of the conquest, and the questions of mining, taxation, and other major issues. In the world of privilege and status, conquerors and pessimists could depict the New World and its peoples as the antithesis of Israel and the Israelites, while activists, patriots, and women flipped the script with aplomb. In the readings of Indians, American-born Spaniards, nuns, and others, the correct interpretation of the Old Testament justified a new social order where these groups’ supposed demerits were in reality their virtues. Indeed, vassals and royal officials’ interpretations of the Old Testament are as diverse as the Spanish Empire itself. Scripture even outlasted the Empire. As republicans defeated royalists in the nineteenth century, divergent readings of the book, variously supporting the Israelite monarchy or the Hebrew republic, had their day on the battlefield itself.

SCALING ANALYSIS OF THE A-PHASE DYNAMICS DURING SLEEP

Fractals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (02) ◽  
pp. 2050050
Author(s):  
V. E. ARCE-GUEVARA ◽  
M. O. MENDEZ ◽  
J. S. MURGUÍA ◽  
A. ALBA ◽  
H. GONZÁLEZ-AGUILAR ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binary Sequence ◽  
Fluctuation Analysis ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Scaling Exponent ◽  
Sleep State ◽  
Phase Dynamics ◽  
A Value ◽  
Sleep Condition ◽  
Detrended Fluctuation

In this work, the scaling behavior of the sleep process is evaluated by using detrended fluctuation analysis based on wavelets. The analysis is carried out from arrivals of short and recurrent cortical events called A-phases, which in turn build up the Cyclic Alternating Pattern phenomenon, and are classified in three types: A1, A2 and A3. In this study, 61 sleep recordings corresponding to healthy, nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy patients and sleep-state misperception subjects, were analyzed. From the A-phase annotations, the onsets were extracted and a binary sequence with one second resolution was generated. An item in the sequence has a value of one if an A-phase onset occurs in the corresponding window, and a value of zero otherwise. In addition, we consider other different temporal resolutions from 2[Formula: see text]s to 256[Formula: see text]s. Furthermore, the same analysis was carried out for sequences obtained from the different types of A-phases and their combinations. The results of the numerical analysis showed a relationship between the time resolutions and the scaling exponents; specifically, for higher time resolutions a white noise behavior is observed, whereas for lower time resolutions a behavior towards to [Formula: see text]-noise is exhibited. Statistical differences among groups were observed by applying various wavelet functions from the Daubechies family and choosing the appropriate sequence of A-phase onsets. This scaling analysis allows the characterization of the free-scale dynamic of the sleep process that is specific for each sleep condition. The scaling exponent could be useful as a diagnosis parameter in clinics when sleep macrostructure does not offer enough information.

scholarly journals Characterization of Chromium Compensated GaAs Sensors with the Charge-Integrating JUNGFRAU Readout Chip by Means of a Highly Collimated Pencil Beam

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1550
Author(s):  
Dominic Greiffenberg ◽  
Marie Andrä ◽  
Rebecca Barten ◽  
Anna Bergamaschi ◽  
Martin Brückner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Noise ◽  
State University ◽  
Noise Performance ◽  
X Ray ◽  
A Value ◽  
Resolution Capability ◽  
Sensor Properties ◽  
Pixel Pitch ◽  
Lower Noise

Chromium compensated GaAs or GaAs:Cr sensors provided by the Tomsk State University (Russia) were characterized using the low noise, charge integrating readout chip JUNGFRAU with a pixel pitch of 75 × 75 µm2 regarding its application as an X-ray detector at synchrotrons sources or FELs. Sensor properties such as dark current, resistivity, noise performance, spectral resolution capability and charge transport properties were measured and compared with results from a previous batch of GaAs:Cr sensors which were produced from wafers obtained from a different supplier. The properties of the sample from the later batch of sensors from 2017 show a resistivity of 1.69 × 109 Ω/cm, which is 47% higher compared to the previous batch from 2016. Moreover, its noise performance is 14% lower with a value of (101.65 ± 0.04) e− ENC and the resolution of a monochromatic 60 keV photo peak is significantly improved by 38% to a FWHM of 4.3%. Likely, this is due to improvements in charge collection, lower noise, and more homogeneous effective pixel size. In a previous work, a hole lifetime of 1.4 ns for GaAs:Cr sensors was determined for the sensors of the 2016 sensor batch, explaining the so-called “crater effect” which describes the occurrence of negative signals in the pixels around a pixel with a photon hit due to the missing hole contribution to the overall signal causing an incomplete signal induction. In this publication, the “crater effect” is further elaborated by measuring GaAs:Cr sensors using the sensors from 2017. The hole lifetime of these sensors was 2.5 ns. A focused photon beam was used to illuminate well defined positions along the pixels in order to corroborate the findings from the previous work and to further characterize the consequences of the “crater effect” on the detector operation.

Synthesis and characterization of novel functionalized perarylated polysiloxane for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

MRS Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (64) ◽  
pp. 3579-3585
Author(s):  
Guillermo M. González Guerra ◽  
Alejandro Alatorre-Ordaz ◽  
Gerardo González Garcia ◽  
Jesus S. Jaime-Ferrer
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Voltammetry ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Chlorosulfonic Acid ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Synthesis And Characterization ◽  
A Value ◽  
Exchange Membrane

ABSTRACTThis work presents the synthesis and characterization of a pearylated polysiloxane material (PAP) from a polycondensation reaction, followed by functionalization with HClSO3 by an electrophilic substitution reaction. According to the characterization techniques applied, a sulfonated pearylated polysiloxane was also obtained, (SPAP). The purpose of this sulfonated material is to obtain an ionomer able to be applied in hydrogen fuel cells of the proton exchange membrane kind (PEMFC). The reaction to produce the polysiloxane precursor was carried out with the commercial reagents: PhSiCl3, Ph2SiCl2 and Ph3SiCl in anhydrous THF at 75 °C and the SPAP material was obtained by sulfonation of the precursor with chlorosulfonic acid. PAP and SPAP were characterized by 1H, NMR for liquids, 29Si NMR for solids, IR-ATR, SEM, and cyclic voltammetry. The NMR 29Si spectra show that PAP and PAPS contain crosslinking regions due to PhSiCl3, growing chain zones due to Ph2SiCl2 and polymer termination zones due to Ph3SiCl, obtaining a mixture of siloxanes. The analysis by cyclic voltammetry indicates that by integrating the area under the curve of the adsorption peaks of H2, a value of 0.062 mC/cm2 is obtained, a value close to the commercial ionomer of Nafion®.

Delegitimizing al-Qaida: Defeating an “Army Whose Men Love Death”

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Mark Long ◽  
Alex S. Wilner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Theoretical Investigation ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The United States ◽  
Recruitment Tool ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
New Social Order

Deterring terrorism is no longer a provocative idea, but missing from the contemporary theoretical investigation is a discussion of how delegitimization might be used to manipulate and shape militant behavior. Delegitimization suggests that states and substate actors can use the religious or ideological rationale that informs terrorist behavior to influence it. In the case of al-Qaida, the organization has carefully elaborated a robust metanarrative that has proved to be remarkably successful as a recruitment tool, in identity formation for adherents, as public apologia and hermeneutic, and as a weapon of war—the so-called media jihad. In the wake of the upheaval of the Arab Spring, al-Qaida and its adherents have redeployed the narrative, promising a new social order to replace the region's anciens régimes. Delegitimization would have the United States and its friends and allies use al-Qaida's own narrative against it by targeting and degrading the ideological motivation that guides support for and participation in terrorism.

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